Contest Entry Exclamation Mark

"How do you feel…?"

Faegan stared blankly up at Kabuto's thoroughly blood-spattered face. Something in his mouth felt funny…

"Well, how do you feel?!" Kabuto was getting a little impatient. He hadn't been operating for hours just to be stared at, had he? No, he hadn't, thank you.

Faegan opened his mouth to say something when a breeze caught him. He clamped his mouth right back down.

He was missing a tooth.

Somewhere in the lower right quadrant of his mouth.

He grabbed Kabuto by the collar and pulled him down with a single, quick, jerky motion.

"What did you do to my MOUTH?!" Faegan nearly screeched, eyes wide as he shook the bloody ninja. "What did you DO?!" Kabuto pushed himself away.

"Hold on there, Faegan, just hold up!" He commanded as Faegan watched his every move and twitch, a desperation in his eyes, beyond the rims of his glasses. Kabuto adjusted his own as Faegan shot up.

"My mouth!!" He screeched again. Kabuto sighed.

"I was just a little curious, that's all! Calm down, Faegan, you're absolutely fine! I… I just knocked one little tooth loose, is all. Please calm down." But the drugs still coursing through Faegan's veins weren't helping the matter.

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?! My mouth!!" He fell back down on the bloody cot with a dramatic pose. The second his head hit the pillow he was sleepy, but he writhed in faux pain. "Nooo….nooo…. I'll never be the same agaaaaain…!" Kabuto, however, was unamused by the display.

"With those teeth, it'll probably grow back soon enough. Don't flip a wig, Faegan. Yeesh. One-time thing. I promise I'll never go poking around you mouth again…"  The silver-haired sound ninja, as a last-ditch resort, almost sounded soothing, hoping to shut Faegan up until the drugs wore off and his mind wasn't clouded. But of course, he wasn't really all that good at the "soothing" thing. Nor did he really care. He could just shut Faegan in the room until he was back to normal…

Wait a minute.

No he couldn't!

What if Faegan ate all his shiny silver instruments of pain and exploration?

No. No, he couldn't have that.

But what if he could find Faegan a babysitter of some sort…?

Hmm. What a pickle for the devoted Sound shinobi.

It was then that his problem was solved by someone crashing into his window and falling through the glass.

It was a girl. She lay in the middle of the small puddle of blood and glass for a long time, so long that Kabuto assumed she was dead for a moment. But soon, she began to twitch, and then she sat up.

Faegan turned around to see why the glass was moving, and locked eyes with the clumsy intruder. And at the exact same moment, both of them screamed at the top of their lungs in surprise. When they were done, they stared at each other quietly before Faegan opened his mouth again.

"I'm Faegan." He told her quietly. "And that's Kabuto. Why are you here?"

She stared back with eyes that were a beautiful shade of cloud-blue. Kabuto wondered why they were studying each other that way. Faegan did that when he met people sometimes, sure, but normal people only did that when they liked what they saw.

"I'm Minnette." She told him. Her hair was very long and thick, black with streaks that were a similar color to her eyes, but more blue. "I don't know why I'm here. I know I fell. I was looking for a flower… Where is 'here' anyway?" It was now that she turned to look back at Kabuto, her pretty eyes inquisitive and almost hypnotic in their deep, pupil-less way. Kabuto's return stare was hard.

"Where 'here' is, is none of your business!" He snapped. "Can you walk? Because if so I want you out of here right now!" His face and anger fell the moment he saw her face. She looked as though she were going to cry.

And then she did.

"I-I was just…l-looking for O-O-Orochim-maru!!" She cried, burying her head in her knees. "S-Someone told me th-that he could… h-help me! And they said I needed this f-f-flower!"  She held a pitifully ripped and broken flower out to Kabuto, who almost felt sympathy for this easily tricked girl.

"Look, girl, whatever your name is…Kinette--" Faegan interrupted him.

"Her name is Minnette." It seemed the drugs were wearing off enough for him to regain his memory. Kabuto sighed.

"Minnette, then. Look, whatever it is, he can't help you." Minnette stared at him, heartbroken.

Thanks, though, Kabuto thought. You created just enough of a distraction for the drugs to wear off of him.

Minnette began to cry again, and Faegan stared at her. Kabuto wondered if Faegan had ever witnessed a girl crying before, because he looked confused. But the black haired spirit soon turned to stare at the flower in Minnette's pale hand.

"Can I eat that?" Faegan asked. Minnette stopped sobbing and looked up at him. She looked down at the flower and then, through her still-streaming tears, she laughed.

"I went through a whole lot to get this, you know… But I guess you can have it." She giggled hysterically as Faegan reached down and took it from her hand. He threw it in his mouth and a second later it was gone. Minnette continued to laugh.

"Faegan, was it? You're funny!" She told him. "Thanks. I feel a little better now. I'll find somewhere to go, I guess…" Faegan stood up and took her hand in his to help her up. She was at least a foot shorter than him.

"Come on, I'll show you the way out." He told her, and helped her though the shattered window before following. Kabuto stared at the broken glass for a long time, specifically at the spot where Faegan had taken a piece of the bloody fragments for a snack on the road.

"I guess his tooth grew back already. What a nuiscance" Kabuto grumbled before walking off to look for his broom and perhaps someone to sweep up for him. Maybe the stalker artist could be coerced... **